giveaway, world's fair vintage paper art, GIVEAWAY!

Don't forget to enter! It ends on Thursday! :) The lucky winner will have their canvas art on its way to their home on Friday! :)
"STEP RIGHT UP!" 100 follower World's Fair vintage paper art piece on canvas giveaway! 

"World's Fair"
By, Alyssa
Boston Bee
Vintage Paper Art on Canvas

Silly, but a must Rule:
~You must be a follower to enter, if you're not, follow and welcome to Boston Bee ;)
1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite thing is to do at a fair or carnival. You are entered to win!
2. Post/write/blog about me on your blog, then come back and tell me that you did to be entered TWICE!

world's fair~more vintage paper art by me

What do you do when your son is playing wii, supper is in the oven, and your husband is driving home from work? You do some art! Here is another one of my creations. I will be attaching a funky carnival like chunky ribbon on the back to hang up on the wall. I just haven't gotten that far yet ;) OH, MAYBE A 100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY IS IN THE WORKS! WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN THIS? I will have the giveaway info. posted later and add that chunky ribbon! Woohoo!

"World's Fair"
By, Alyssa
Boston Bee
 Paper Art on Canvas

vintage magazine canvas art tutorial

"Paper Moon"
By, Alyssa
Boston Bee
      Canvas with Acrylic Paint, Vintage Papers from 1940 & Mixed Media 

Another snow filled evening here in Syberia, I mean Massachusetts, and I have decided to make a vintage magazine canvas art print. 
Here's what ya need:
1. A canvas and any type of book pages, old magazines, new magazines, the sky is the limit!
2. Mod Poge and acrylic paints
3. A creative mind for a design- I usually have something in mind to start and then go with whatever comes to me
4. Mod Poge your pieces on this way and that
5. Add more varieties of paper prints and make something out of those like a tree, or a bird...
6. Mod Poge the whole piece and let dry
6. Add a frame if you wish and Tah-Dah! 

alyssa's wicked chunky chocolate chip cookies & free valentine printables

Today, I baked the chunkiest chocolate chip cookies ever! Oh my yumminess! I have to share this recipe with you so you can do the same. 


Wicked Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups softened butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping the bowl often, until mixed well. Reduce speed to low. Beat gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.
Droup dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 2" apart, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown. (DO NOT OVER BAKE!) Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets. Get a big glass of cold milk and start dunking! 


26 CHUNKY COOKIES


Heather Bullard over at http://www.heatherbullard.typepad.com is giving away a free sheet of Valentine printables (and has other adorable printable things too!) Make the cookies above, put them in a baggie, cut out a printable heart, attach to the cookie bag with ribbon and you have an instant sweet treat for someone special ;).

decor ideas and i would like to...

Part 1.

I have been meaning to share these amazing decor pics., from a Cape Cod style cottage house tour that I went on over the holidays. Enjoy! 

I plan on painting the topiaries below on my closet doors! 

What a great topiary!

Even the bulkhead is decorated!

Part 2.
One of my many dreams...

I would like to open a shop in my yard with my artsy sister friend Sarah. I would like a shed where I could make it into a store and a little cafe. What would I sell? How I would set it up? 


1. I would paint the barn board white 
2. Sell penny candy in jars for the kids
3. Sell herbs in pottery
4. Sell old windows, cottage everything, and all of our art. 
5. Have fancy teas and coffees for sale with the menu written on chalkboards in colored chalk.
6. Sell Kathy's cookbook and Susan Branch's books, along with Sharon Lovejoy's (3 very talented woman and very inspiring to me!)
7. Sell my thirtyone bags and stationary! Love it soooo much!
8. Have a little outdoor cafe to sip lemonade and enjoy my gardens. I do this now, but would love to share it with the world! 


What are your dreams????

before and after bookcase

My father-in-law made this bookcase for us when we bought our home 6, no 7, no maybe 8 yrs. ago. I've had this sitting in my bedroom in a stained state of exhaustion screaming to me, "Please, please paint me!" 
"Yes, bookcase! I will get to you. I know you need a makeover." I would reply every single time I looked at it.


Well, here is the before:

Blinded by the light! Sorry, I didn't edit a thing on this pic. today.

Here is the after in 'Wild Thyme' green. Isn't she lovely? I think so. She now stands lovely in my living room:

Made from Pop with love (Add heart here) I have to figure out how to do that.
The Shelves include:

My Heart Shaped Hydrangea Photo from my Backyard
My favorite bird statue -Black Capped Chickadee (MA State Bird)
Milk Glass
Family Photos
Susan Branch Books, Sharon Lovejoy Books
Cottage Decor Books and Country Living Magazines
Norman Rockwell Art Book
Garden Books
Old Sturbridge Village Books
My Wedding Picture
Beach Stones
Heart Rocks and a book about Heart Rocks
Sea Glass
A Lucky Penny Fish Bowl (When we spot a penny in our house we yell, "Lucky Penny!" and it goes into the fish bowl a.k.a. Lucky Penny Jar

                                                                          Your friend in snow land,

inspiration~a splash of cottage from the summer for a winter indoor cottage party...

Good Morning! Fun Fact: The song you are listening to right now is what my husband and I walked together to, down the grassy garden aisle, past the white wooden chairs, and into the beautiful gardens as newly married husband and wife, 9 years ago...It will be 10 this July ;) Take a sip of coffee, this song makes me cry happy tears every time I hear it. It describes us to a "t"

Some things that you see on my porch in the summer

See what we wake up to on summer mornings. We love our cottage gardens! 

Wicker from an estate sale in Kennebunkport, ME. I added the floral cushion. Table tray from a flea market in Maine.

I'm getting ready for my Re-organization Thirty-One Open House this weekend, which is going to be great! You can order from me too and have it shipped to your door! ;) I am thinking of how I am going to reorganize my closets and my writing an reading room with new bins. I LOVE these items!
Here are some pics. from my cottage garden party from my backyard, over the summer. Remember this? I am missing it, so for my Thirty-One Open House, I'm having a cottage party inside, so I'm using my 2010 pics. for some inspiration...I love this stuff! ;)

This smelled SO good! Of course, my chalkboards were all around. I LOVE chalkboards!

A mix of nature with vintage

Old cans do the trick!

I call these fairy umbrellas. I love when these bloom!

Many summer nights we sit outside, listen to the frogs and owls, have a fire, cook marshmallows and hot dogs, and watch the stars.

Our outdoor washing station. I love using herbal soaps in this soap dish

Okay, so now that I am totally missing summer! I'm off to begin! I'll keep you posted!  ;)Alyssa
p.s. I linked this post to Fishtail Cottage

my daily run and church windows

My Church~Spring Photo

Happy New Year and how lucky I am to have so many followers and friend and family followers too! Thank you and BIG Hugs! 


I couldn't believe the beauty of this Spring day in January! Yes, I'm writing from Massachusetts! On my run, I veered off into the cemetery for some peace off of the road, and my neighbor/farmer was driving behind me in his bucket loader which kept my bucket moving, but I wanted to enjoy my moment of Zen and what better place to do it~the cemetery. As I ran, the pines were so green against the crystal blue sky. The pure white snow was  like a big blanket and provided an icy cool down as well. As I ran past family graves, I prayed for everything!  

Which brings me to... in very random order, making church windows out of chocolate, colored mini-marshmallows, and coconut. My great aunt used to make these and they tasted so goooood! I found one little church window over the massive amount of cookies during this Christmas season and I snatched it! So, my challenge to you is to make these and remember the good things that you have to be thankful for, for whatever your beliefs are and think positive for 2011! You're very, very worth it! I sure am going to do it!